I love bacon wrapped snacks and appetizers. I have been making Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts recipe for over 25 years.

Bacon wrapped water chestnuts are perfect for tailgating, game day parties, New Year’s parties, and just about any gathering of people.

I have been known to serve these at Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and even Christmas day while the holiday meal is cooking.

I am sure this came off of the back of a product, but it’s been a minute since I last saw it anywhere near a product package. It could have been chestnuts, or soy sauce, or even Worcestershire sauce.

This is not the usual Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts you find commonplace now.

The dipping sauce has no BBQ sauce, grape jelly, or ketchup in this version. The sauce only has a few ingredients that you might already have on hand. Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, butter, mustard, and brown sugar. You can add some chili sauce or sriracha to the sipping sauce if you want a little more heat.

You could even marinade your water chestnuts in additional soy sauce, but this is going to produce a mighty salty finished product.

If you add chicken liver and green onions, you can make rumaki with a different spin on the traditional teriyaki sauce.

Add jalapeno slices if you want to add heat to the actual Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnut rather than just adding heat to the sauce.

Really, you could even wrap a pineapple piece or a date rather than a water chestnuts, this sauce is pretty versatile and goes with just about anything you would want to wrap in bacon.

When I do make a meal with bacon, like breakfast for dinner, I use thick sliced bacon, it just doesn’t seem to work as well with this recipe.

Ready-to-eat bacon from the store can also be used here since it is still pliable. Using pre-cooked bacon will reduce your baking time.

This recipe can easily be doubled and tripled. It can even be reduced by half if you are only cooking for a few people. The only real limit on this one is the size of your baking vessel and the time required to individually wrap the water chestnuts.

A trick for getting the toothpick through the water chestnut is to use the fancier toothpicks that have a blunt end. It is so much easier when you can push on the end rather than try to slide it in with the middle because of the pointed ends.

Try and get as close to the center of the chestnut as possible, otherwise they might split. If this happens, just wrap the bacon tighter and try to skewer it in a manner in which both halves are attached by the toothpick.

Using a foil lined pan will make clean up easier. Otherwise you may find you need to soak your baking pan to get the burn bacon grease off.

I would probably not cook these in a crockpot or slow cooker, but I have made them, poured the sauce over them and used both to keep the Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts warm. You may want to carefully remove the toothpicks for this and stir as little as possible. The picks can be left in, they will just be messy and your company is not likely to want to touch the toothpick when they are covered in a sticky glaze.

I cook these in the oven, but someone with more patience than I could grill Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts over a medium low heat or even smoke them.

I would not freeze Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts before or after cooking. The texture will not be the same. You assemble these ahead of time though and store in the refrigerator for a few days in a sealed container. I just wouldn’t do this too many days in advance as your bacon will start to lose its color and its freshness, the same as an open package of bacon would.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Whole water chestnuts, wrapped in bacon and baked until crispy with a savory brown sugar dip.

Author: Beth Mueller
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: About 10 Servings
Category: Appetizer
Method: Baking
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

1 cup Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Yellow Mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 Cans Whole Water Chestnuts
14 slices Thin Sliced Bacon, cut into 3 equal pieces
Wooden toothpicks

Instructions

Combine brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and butter in a small sauce pan. Heat over low, stirring occasionally until blended. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Drain chestnuts and rinse with water, drain again.
Take 1 short strip of bacon and wrap around 1 chestnut. Carefully push a toothpick through the ends of the bacon strip and chestnut.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with sides with foil and spray foil with baking spray. Place wrapped chestnuts on baking sheet. Place in oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until bacon is done to your liking.
Allow to cool slightly before serving, the chestnuts will retain a lot of heat in the centers.
Serve with sauce for dipping or place in slow cooker set to warm setting and pour sauce over the chestnuts to keep warm.
Alternately, you can use a broiler pan. Spray bottom portion of the pan with baking spray, place the top on the broiler pan and spray top with baking spray. Place chestnut on top of the pan using the slats as holders for toothpicks.